SGS Weekly Parent Update

Growing ALL Kids: Academics, Attitude, and Attendance

SGS Weekly Parent Update

Growing ALL Kids: Academics, Attitude, and Attendance

September 17, 2017

Week two is in the books!

Great job making it through the second week of school. We were very thankful that the air stayed clear and the temperatures were cool as it made recess time super fun! Cross your fingers this pattern continues as we move into week three.

Check out the important announcements and upcoming events here in the building.

Great Seeing You at Back to School Night

Thank you to everyone that showed up for our Back to School Night this past Thursday. We deeply appreciate your partnership and support as we work together to support all of our students. If you missed this event, please take a moment to email or call your child's teacher so you are in the loop with classroom and building expectations regarding academics, attitude, and attendance.

OTSD Assessment Results

Math in action!

We are learning about place value!

We love math!

Math in action!

We are learning about place value!

We love math!

This Really Happened! September 17th

Our second week of school rocked! Kids and staff had an awesome time learning, building relationships, and refining our routines. Make sure to check out all the great pictures and learning that students participated in by clicking HERE to access it. We hope you enjoy!

Remember Early Release Wednesday!

Just a friendly reminder that we have Early Release Wednesdays going on. All Sandy Grade students in grades K-5 will be released at 1:30 pm.

Parent Surveys

We grow all kids at Sandy Grade but we also want to grow as a staff in how we support you. Please take a moment and fill out our SGS Parent and Student Feedback Survey to help us as we work together for another great year.

2017-2018 Student Handbooks

Our SGS Family Calendar can also be accessed by clicking HERE. This great new calendar will be sent home in a hard copy format for families in the first few weeks of school.

Please let us know if you have any questions or need clarification.

Thanks!

School Spirit-Wear Blue Fridays

We are all about Bobcat Spirit here! As a way to promote and increase student pride and spirit, we encourage staff and students to wear blue on Fridays. If your student has a Sandy Grade School shirt, this would be a great time to wear it as they show a little pride. If they don’t, it is ok…just wear blue! In case we don’t have school on Friday, we will always be sporting our school colors on the last school day of the week. Join us in supporting the Bobcat Pride!

Communication

Fostering a strong connection between home and school is of the utmost importance to us. One way in which we approach this is by working hard to make sure you know what is going on in the school environment. Here are some of the ways we communicate with families:

· E-mails through Constant Contact - please help us with this by providing a current e-mail address

· ParentVUE - online gradebook to check for missing work and assignment scores

Please know that we try as much as possible to post information online instead of sending home hard copy documents to help conserve costs and minimize the impact on the environment. However, we do try to make an effort to print items for families when possible.

Small Group Reading is Starting!!

We are heading into week three and this means that our students are starting their small group reading times! Yahoo! Students love this part of the day as it provides them an opportunity to work in a small group with an adult on a book at their reading level. During this time students work on reading comprehension skills, decoding, word work, and other vital reading skills that help kids move forward in their English Language Arts skills.

Partner reading!

Learning about traditions!

Working together!

Partner reading!

Learning about traditions!

Working together!

Reading with Your Student

It is vital for your student’s academic performance to read to, with, and by your children as often as possible but shoot for a minimum of 15-30 minutes a day. It is helpful to create a consistent time each day to read with your child or have your child read such as before dinner time, right before bed, or after a snack when they get home. It is also essential to read aloud picture or chapter books (depending on your child’s grade level). While reading to your child, stop and ask your child questions about what is happening in the book. For example, ask him / her to make predictions (What do you think will happen next?), discuss characters in the story, and have your child summarize the main events of the story in his / her own words. Frequently reading your child’s favorite books is also a great idea as it helps promote comprehension and vocabulary development.

Reading Logs are Starting

Reading logs are going home this week for all grade levels. Please keep an eye out for them. Many of the teachers have the reading log included as part of their weekly homework packet. If you did not see one come home in your child’s backpack, please connect with your child’s teacher. Let the reading begin!

Showing up matters!

Celebrating great attendance with the Bobcat Triplets!

Every day matters!

Showing up matters!

Celebrating great attendance with the Bobcat Triplets!

Every day matters!

Weekly Attendance Winners

Awesome work, Miss Cone's class, for having the best attendance this week. Her entire class was here all week long! This is a great start to a great year! Keep up the great work! #BestYearYet

September is Attendance Awareness Month

USA Today reports that research suggests that as many as 7.5 million students miss a month of school each year. With each day a student is absent, it raises the likelihood that they will struggle academically and eventually drop out of high school. While it might feel too early to be talking about high school graduation, the foundation for their success begins at elementary. The foundational skills needed to be successful in middle and high school for reading, writing, and mathematics is being taught now. If there is any way that we can help support you and your child with attendance, please let us know. Working to improve attendance is truly a partnership between the home and school.

Excused vs. Unexcused Absence

Oregon Trail School District recently updated how an absence is identified in terms of being excused or unexcused. OTSD and Oregon law defines excused absences as the following: illness of the student, illness of an immediate family member when the student’s presence at home is necessary, emergency situations that require the student’s absence, school field trips and school approved activities, medical (dental) appointments when confirmed by the parent, or a disciplinary suspension is an excused absence. Examples of unexcused absences are: appointments for haircuts, shopping, family vacation / trips, hunting, or other non-critical personal business. If you are unsure of how an absence will be coded, please reference the OTSD Code of Conduct on the district’s website or call the front office.

Virtue of the Month -September

Virtue of the Month Our virtue throughout September is respect. This is the perfect way to kick off the new school year as kids start to dig into learning.

Site Council

The Sandy Grade School Site Council is looking for parent involvement and representation. Our Site Council is designed to encourage community involvement in shared decision making and to foster collaboration between parents, community, students, and staff members. Each year, the Site Council works to develop plans to improve professional growth of the school’s staff, improve the school’s instructional program, advise the development of school safety programs, and to assist in the school improvement process. If you are interested in helping, please call and let the front office know.

Pulling Pink PAWS on Friday

You too can earn a Pink PAWS with good choices!

Thanks for helping Pink PAWS today...love the capes!

Pulling Pink PAWS on Friday

You too can earn a Pink PAWS with good choices!

Thanks for helping Pink PAWS today...love the capes!

PBIS Bobcat Field Trips

PBIS Bobcat Field Trips Sandy Grade is a PBIS school, focusing on positive reinforcement and teaching expectations. All students and staff will follow basic expectations for the school: Be safe, Be responsible, Be respectful, and Be kind. Not only can parents support us by reinforcing our PBIS guidelines at home, you can also support us in making sure your child is eligible for PBIS reward activity, known as a Bobcat Field Trip. In order for students to meet eligibility requirements they must accomplish the following:

1. Students must maintain a 92% attendance average.

2. Students must be in good standing at the library. Ms. Janet will check for lost or overdue books.

3. Students must not have any office referrals for the quarter.

4. Students may only have one YIKES for the quarter.

5. Students must have all their reading logs turned in for the quarter with a minimum of five nights of recorded reading per week.

6. Students must not have any bus citations for the quarter.

7. Students must not have any missing work.

After each field trip, the eligibility requirements will be reset allowing all students to work towards earning the reward activity.

Parking at Sandy Grade

We have had some questions about where to park when visiting Sandy Grade. While we know parking is a little tight and some creativity is needed when coming to visit our downtown site, we would encourage you to park along the street if any spots are available or in the parking lot near the pool. Please make sure you don't park in the red fire lane along the side of the building near the pool or in the LaBamba parking lot. Your help with this is greatly appreciated.

Finally, it is a pleasure working with your child. We are happy to have them here and we are excited about their academic growth! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call or e-mail us.